Zombies, vampires, clowns — oh my! It’s that time of year again, where monsters roam the earth stalking their human prey.

These fiends can be found lurking everywhere from Fields of Screams in Mountville to Jason’s Woods in Lancaster to Shocktoberfest in Sinking Spring. What makes a good monster haven? A detailed backstory, talented actors and scores of special effects.

With that in mind, here are just some of the terrifying denizens of Field of Screams. But be warned that they don’t take kindly to strangers.

JACK

When the clown-faced Jack talks, he does so in a gruff voice that hinges on a purr when he’s describing what he loves most — killing. Growing up, Jack was obsessed with the circus but he was never able to visit — his parents were too poor to afford tickets. But Jack wouldn’t take no for answer and snuck in. “I just couldn’t resist the lure of the lights,” he said.

He was caught instead by the carneys, kidnapped and forced into being a clown.

As he grew older, his rage grew, too, until one day he snapped, broke free of the circus and killed the carnival man who kidnapped him in the first place. Sentimental, Jack stitched his kidnappers face onto his own.

After seeing a flier for Field of Screams, he knew it was the place for people like him. A place where his ruthlessness would be appreciated.

Murder count: “I ran out of fingers and digits. It’s way up there.”

Find him at the Entertainment Area.

LETCH JR.

In a voice reminiscent of Christian Bale’s Batman growl, Letch Jr. shared his tale. After his mother died in a freak car accident, Letch. was raised by his dad, who he idolizes. His father, as it turns out, runs a saw mill that chops people up instead of wood. One day, Letch was allowed to help with the work.

“I enjoyed it. I loved every minute of it,” he said, before beginning to talk about his first victim — his classmate, Veronica Smalls.

“Her hair was so beautiful, especially if it was covered in her own blood,” he said. “She ran and ran and ran, she couldn’t out run me. Oh no, I never would have stopped chasing her.”

Finding his calling in murder, Letch kills with relish and without remorse. One day he hopes to take over his dad’s business, but for now he’s content slaughtering those who come into his path.

Murder count: “Too many to count, too much joy.”

Find him at the Den of Darkness.

MR. FIELD OF SCREAMS

Before time could be measured, Mr. Field of Screams emerged from the depths of hell. “I’m as old as the hills,” said the demonic goblin in a tattered suit. His mission is to provide a safe haven for the park’s creatures, a place where they can be themselves and embrace their macabre talents. “I try to help all my creatures to do what they’re supposed to do,” he said. In many cases, that means a murder, or two.

Murder count: Zero. While he has not committed the deed, that isn’t to say he hasn’t been involved. “I plead the fifth,” he said.

Find him all around Field of Screams.

PIGFARMER WILLIE

When the cops investigated Willie’s pig farm, they found more than the illegal weapons they had been looking for.

They found bodies, too. Six of them in fact. But Willie knew of 20 more they had not discovered.

“I fed [the bodies] to my piggies,” he said in a raspy twang. “I put them in the wood chipper and into the fertilizer. I shipped that pork out to people.”

Knowing that people were eating the evidence, Willie chuckled. “No one else saw that it was as funny as I did,” he said. “People just don’t get my humor.”

Murder count: 27 (Willie’s back in business).

Find him at the pig barn at the Haunted Hayride.

SALLY SIMMONS

A little girl trapped in a grown woman’s body, Sally Simmons seems harmless at first with her childlike demeanor and infectious giggle.

She’s anything but.

A patient at AppleGate Mental Hospital and Asylum since she was 14, Simmons lives a lonely life with only a baby doll for company and a terrifying alter-ego called Pauly.

When asked how she ended up at the asylum, she shrugged. “I might have killed my little brother,” she said before shouting, “He was a brat.”

It was really Pauly who killed her brother, Simmons explained. “Pauly does all the bad stuff. He comes out and then I go in and hide.”

Pauly, sadly, comes out a lot.

Murder count: 1 person (her brother), some birds and Cocoa the cat.

Find her at Frightmare Asylum.

IF YOU GO:Field of Screams, 6 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Fridays, Sundays plus this Saturday and Nov. 3. 5 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Saturdays (except this Saturday and Nov. 3) at 191 College Ave., Mountville. Cost varies from individual rides priced at $13 to an all attractions combo pass for $28. www.fieldofscreams.com; 717-285-7748.

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